


Goodbyes

by Clockwork



Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Heartache, M/M, Pain, Post canon, Sacrifice, Soulmates, everyone STILL dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 08:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16657714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clockwork/pseuds/Clockwork
Summary: Joshua knows he's only got one choice, but he leaves a message for Vasquez before he goes.





	Goodbyes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AndreaLyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndreaLyn/gifts).



The smell of gunpowder was thick in the air, a hazy fog that filled most of the spaces and Faraday was positive he was never going to get out of his nose. Maybe one day he’ll stop having nightmares of the screams he’s heard, of the good people he’s watched die, and they led them into it. He realized then that this is what happened to Goodnight. This is why he hesitates, and why he has Billy. Not just as a companion but as his rock, as the man that helps carry him through it all because he’s there for him. Maybe if he’s lucky, he’ll have someone there for him when this is all over.

Not that it will matter if they don’t do something. Too much is out of control. There’s a fire that could kill the children, trap them and let them burn alive if they’re not lucky enough to inhale enough smoke. The bodies were piling up and with that gleaming instrument of death in the distance, none of them were walking out of this. There would be no town of Rose Creek, and the kids they had worked so hard to save would be dead. If they didn’t stop that gun, Rose Creek and everyone in it would be literally wiped off the map.

The plan came to him almost instantly, his own words echoing in his head. He always had wanted to blow something up. 

It didn’t take long, getting the items he needed, doing what needed to be done. No time to think, no time to face what he’s about to do. If he’s quick enough he can save the others. If he’s quick enough, he can save Emma and Teddy and the good people of Rose Creek who had stepped forward to die at their side. That’s all that mattered, and he couldn’t think about the rest, about the people he was giving up, the ones that he would never see again.

Even as he heard their voice behind him as he raced through the town, heard their encouragement echoing in his ears and spurring him on as he rode headlong into Hell.

***

Teddy held Jack’s reins, watching the trio ride away. Their town was safe, and Bart Bogue is dead. Anyone that hears the tale will know that Rose Creek is not a town you mess with. Many had lost their lives, but four men had given their lives for the sake of being good men, doing the right thing. 

Stroking the horse’s neck, he moved to unsaddle the mount and realizing that there were items in the saddlebag. A pack of cigarillos. A deck of cards. A bottle of whiskey with a rolled piece of paper tied about the neck. Teddy’s hands shook as he unrolled the piece of paper, staring at the words that were smudged on a scrap of paper. 

“Well shit.”

Rolling the paper back up, he shoved it and the bottle into the saddlebag and pulled himself up onto the horse, driving him forward before he was even fully seated in the saddle. Riding hellbent for leather, bent low over the horse’s neck. Driving as hard and fast as he can, knowing they haven’t had that much time and it shouldn’t take him long to catch up.

Finally seeing the three horses, watching as they come to a stop heading the approaching hooves pounding over the hard packed Earth. By the time they could see who it was, both mount and rider, two of the men have their guns drawn. Vasquez, the man he seeks, has the gun pointed directly at him.

It didn’t slow Teddy down though as he rode up right next to the man scowling at him. He grabbed the bottle from the leather bag and shoved the whiskey and note at Vasquez. 

“I think this was meant for you,” he said, giving the man a nod as he took it. Teddy didn’t even wait, giving a jerk of the reins and turning Jack to head back to Rose Creek at the same speed.

Vasquez watched him ride away, still holding the things in his hand, confused as he looked down at them. Balancing the bottle against his saddle horn and ignoring the stares of the other two, he unrolled the paper to read the words.

They were roughly lettered and Vasquez realized he’d used a twig or something and the ashes of his cigarillo to write the words, rough in penmanship and method. Obviously written just before he’d ridden out, knowing he was going to die. 

**For mi amor**

Picking up the bottle, he shook his head, smiling as he poured out half of it for Faraday, downing the rest.

“You sneaking little bastard,” he muttered, realizing while he might not speak the language well, about as well as he wrote it, he had played Vasquez on that all along. And he loved it. Just as much as he loved the man himself and always would.


End file.
